London-based Sunsave, which provides solar panels through a subscription service, has secured a £113m round, comprising £13m in equity and a £100m debt facility.
The funding round was co-led by Norrsken VC and IPGL and included participation from angel investors including early employees from Wise and the former chairman of Asda, Stuart Rose. Sunsave’s debt facility comes from French bank Crédit Agricole.
Sunsave installs solar panels on customers’ roofs and then allows them to pay back the cost through a subscription model, removing the significant upfront cost. The company says the new fundraise will enable it to install solar panels on 10,000 homes in England and Wales.
It’s part of a cohort of companies aiming to provide solar panels to homeowners. Demand for panels soared in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as gas prices rose. Appetite has dropped over the last two years as the gas price has fallen, but analysts now suggest it could be on the up again.
Sunsave is not the only solar company to turn to a debt facility to fund the rollout of its technology. German unicorn Enpal — one of the best-funded domestic energy tech startups — secured a €1.1bn debt vehicle last year, while German solar startup Zolar secured an €100m debt facility.
Doing so typically means customers’ loans are paid to the debt provider, instead of sitting on a company’s balance sheet.
Sunsave launched its subscription service in January last year. It was named the 14th fastest-growing UK startup by Sifted earlier this year, based on revenue growth.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/sunsave-113m-solar/
